A Grain of Brain The Grain of Brain project is the most detailed wiring-and-activity map of a mammalian brain ever assembled! Incredibly, it is based on analysis of just a square millimetre of mouse visual cortex. This astounding feat was achieved by the Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks (MICrONS) Consortium. Their work appears in a…
Neuroplasticity is critical to brain function. It’s so critical, that without it, you would die! That’s a remarkable statement, and, amazingly, it’s true. Neuroplasticity is all about how your brain forms new connections, how your brain rewires itself. And for any brain, that’s a core function. As pumping is to hearts, so forming new connections…
Misguided & Misguiding: Misfolded Proteins Proteostasis is the system our bodies use to keep proteins in functional balance. Normally, it works brilliantly. However, misfolded proteins arise when proteostasis goes wrong. This is more likely to happen the older you get. Now, you might think that misfolded proteins are not a big deal but you’d be…
Synaptic Update Here’s a fascinating take on the synapse. Compare these two images of the active zone of a synapse. One (Figure 2 below) is easily recognized as a typical textbook rendition of a synapse, but the other not (Figure 1). The image that looks like hallucinatory spaghetti comes from a relatively recent paper and…
